Full Name: Mikhail Nikomarov
Position: CEO of Bushveld Energy
Main Activity of the Company: Developing utility-scale energy storage projects in Africa using vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) technology and launching the manufacture of VRFB components in South Africa, starting with vanadium electrolyte
Date and Place of Birth: October 3,1980, Moscow, Russia
Education: Two undergraduate degrees in economics and in history, University of Massachusetts, US; diploma in economics, London School of Economics, UK; MBA, INSEAD, France
First Job: Folding T-shirts and other items of clothing at a print shop when I was 12 years old
Career History Prior to Current Position: My first two full-time jobs were in finance, first in the residential mortgage industry and then in commercial banking, where I managed the credit risk of a portfolio of corporate loans in Boston, US (at what is now Banco Santander). After business school, I joined McKinsey & Company as a management consultant in Moscow. While still working for McKinsey, I relocated to South Africa
Size of First Pay Packet: $4 an hour, when I was 12
First Job with Present Group: I cofounded the company and started as its CEO and one of its directors
Value of Assets under Your Control: We currently have multiple projects that represent a total investment of R20-million to R30-million
Number of People under Your Leadership: Four full-time and three part-time
Management Style: I try to be consensus driven
Personal Best Achievement: Representing South Africa at the Ultimate Frisbee World Championship, in London, in 2016
Professional Best Achievement: Over the past few years, I have really enjoyed creating something out of nothing. Bushveld Energy did not exist three years ago and now it does and is growing. Similarly, we are setting up the South African Energy Storage Association as a formal platform to engage with the South African public and government
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My parents
Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: I have worked with a lot of very interesting people who supported me, but I carved my own path instead of following someone else’s guidance
Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Queen Elizabeth II
Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Bushveld Minerals CEO Fortune Mojapelo, with whom we developed the Bushveld Energy concept
Philosophy of Life: There is a great John Keats quote: ‘I would sooner fail than not be among the greatest’
Biggest Ever Opportunity: Setting up Bushveld Energy
Biggest Ever Disappointment: I wish my grandparents had lived longer and known about my activities in South Africa
Hope for the Future: I am bullish about South Africa
Favourite Reading: Anything that has to do with the news
Favourite TV Programme: We do not have a television at home
Favourite Food/Drink: Ice cream – some preferences do not change
Favourite Music: I have quite an eclectic playlist, but rock n roll dominates
Favourite Sport: To play – ultimate frisbee; to watch – baseball
Favourite Website: Greentechmedia.com and espn.com
Hobbies: Playing ultimate frisbee, checking on friends in the northern hemisphere, watching American sports (especially baseball, American football and basketball)
Car: BMW 540i
Pets: None
Miscellaneous Dislikes: Closed-mindedness
Favourite Other South African Company: Nando’s, for how well it uses creative marketing, its willingness to take risks and its ability to compete outside South Africa
Favourite Foreign Company: Netflix
Married: No, but I have been with my partner, Yulia Galyametdinova, for over eight years
Children: None
Clubs: Ultitude Ultimate Frisbee Club, Greenside, Johannesburg